Role of Middle Management in Post-Merger Integration

Abstract

Mergers and acquisitions (M&A) are common phenomenon in today’s market place. M&As are popular way expand company size and value. Additional value creation is the first and foremost reason for M&As. The purpose of this thesis is to investigate the process of post-merger integration in company X and the role of middle management involved in it.

Two themes this thesis focuses on are M&As and middle management. M&As take place when one company blends or fuses another company into the acquiring company. In M&As it is common to look for synergistic benefits that make the new, merged company stronger and more valuable entity. Middle managers, the focus of this thesis, are managers, as the name suggests, in the middle of the organisation. Middle management has got little attention in the research area. This thesis studies middle management’s role in the most vital process during M&A process. That is the post-merger integration phase, when anticipated synergies are realised.

Theoretical framework of this thesis was built on existing research of M&As and on middle management. Main research method used was case study method, with content analysis and attributional coding used to assess the similarities and dissimilarities between existing research and the case at hand. The interviews conducted were thematical in nature.

Main research result indicated that the role of middle management in the post-merger integration process was operational.